Key takeaways
- An international panel of more than 80 experts has issued updated guidance to improve care for atrial fibrillation (AF) patients, summarising the discussions at 10th AFNET/EHRA Consensus Conference.
- Treatment is moving beyond stroke prevention to include management of comorbidities and reduction of AF burden, with a growing role for rhythm control therapies.
- The report calls for integrated, patient-centered approaches using rhythm control, stroke prevention, and AI-driven risk assessment to improve outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.
Sophia Antipolis 6 January 2026: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and is linked to stroke, heart failure, and other serious complications. It affects millions worldwide and represents a growing challenge in an ageing population.
In May 2025, more than 80 leading experts gathered for the 10th AFNET/EHRA Consensus Conference to share insights on AF management and research. Their discussions identified knowledge gaps and research priorities, now summarised in a consensus report published in EP Europace.
Dr Emma Svennberg, cardiologist from Stockholm, Sweden, and first author of the consensus paper, explained: "AF treatment is undergoing considerable shift from an exclusive focus on stroke prevention to management of concomitant co-morbidities and AF burden reduction. However, both rhythm control and therapy of coexisting conditions remain underused, and patients with AF continue to experience poor outcomes with associated high healthcare costs. This underscores the need for streamlined treatment to target risk factors, AF burden and rhythm."
Prof. Paulus Kirchhof, Hamburg, Germany, AFNET board chair and one of the four chairpersons of the consensus conference, stated: "The growing role of rhythm control as a treatment with the potential to modify the disease trajectory by reducing AF burden and to reduce cardiovascular events creates a new unmet need for simple, safe, and effective rhythm control therapies. While catheter ablation continues to expand, many patients with AF will require pharmacological rhythm control therapy, either as a primary or adjunctive approach. Development of new antiarrhythmic drugs, optimizing the use of existing antiarrhythmic drugs and new methods to prevent AF remain clinical imperatives."
The report also highlights risk-driven strategies, quantitative traits, and the potential of artificial intelligence to improve risk estimation and personalise therapy.
Prof. Andreas Goette, Paderborn, Germany, AFNET board member and co-chair of the consensus conference, concluded: "Together, these efforts offer pathways towards personalized, patient-centred, multimodal and accessible AF management that integrates rhythm control, stroke prevention, and therapy of concomitant conditions to bridge today's practical needs with tomorrow's therapeutic innovation.
Prof. Jose Luis Merino, Madrid, Spain, past-president of EHRA and co-chair of the 10th AFNET/EHRA consensus conference, said: "For many years, the AFNET/EHRA consensus conferences have been an important forum for international cooperation among recognized experts in the field of atrial fibrillation. We believe that the recommendations of this expert panel will help to optimize AF therapy and improve the outcomes of many AF patients in the world."
The conference brought together experts from Europe, North America, and Australia. It received financial support from MAESTRIA under the EU Horizon 2020 programme (grant number 965286). Industry participants paid an attendance fee.
References:
Svennberg E et al. Transforming Atrial Fibrillation Management by Targeting Comorbidities and Reducing Atrial Fibrillation Burden: the 10th AFNET/EHRA Consensus Conference . Europace, 15 December, 2025.
